


Convinced

by wynnebat



Series: A Dark Bouquet [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Voldemort Wins, Dark Mark (Harry Potter), F/F, Gen, arguably Stockholm Syndrome, not romance-related mind control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2019-07-03 22:38:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15828351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: Ten years after the war, Harry comes back.





	Convinced

**Author's Note:**

> Set some years after Charmed & Content, can be seen as AU to the series.

Harry arrives in the entrance hall of the Lestrange manor ten years after the end of the war, ages after that fateful night when Voldemort won. When Hermione used the last of her strength to banish him as far as she could take him and still keep him on this earth. His hair is long, she thinks, and then she makes herself stop thinking, because as different as he looks, he speaks with the same voice she heard for seven years.

"Not a word," Hermione growls. She has survived five years under her lord's reign; Harry will not be the cause of her death. She won't allow it.

She grasps her mind—called brilliant by so many, and one of the few things that gave her forgiveness after the Order fell—and pulls it shut, stifling both it and the mark on her arm.

It is ugly; it does the job. Her Dark Mark will not harm her for a short time.

"What are you doing here?" she asks. Her wand is out, but pointing at the floor.

Harry swallows. (He must be nearing thirty years old, just like me, she thinks, but he's still the boy she used to know.) "I'm here to get you out." He takes a step closer. His hands are free of a wand. "I know how to disable the Dark Mark. I am so, so sorry it took so long. But— Ron's at the camp, and—"

His words aren't as important as his presence. She hugs him close, a cacophony of emotions running through her.

"I've missed you. So much," she whispers against his shoulder. "Oh, Harry."

"Hermione," he says, agrees, and holds her close.

When she leans back, there are tears in her eyes. "But you know I can't leave with you."

"I saw your children," Harry replies. His jaw is set in a very hard line. "You can bring them with you, just them. You just have to hurry."

 _How long has he been watching?_ Hermione wonders. She hasn't noticed anything at all. He's gotten better; she's gotten worse. She's gotten worse in everything, she thinks as she steps back, leaving Harry's embrace.

"I'll be just a moment," she says. Neither of them knows whether it's a lie. There's some fun in that, she thinks, and realizes she sounds too much like her wife. She doesn't sound like the girl she used to be or the boy she used to love. It causes her grief (many things do), but you can't stay young and innocent forever.

When, minutes later, she tells Harry he should leave alone, he doesn't look surprised. "You're not in your right mind," he tells her.

Her heart's too tired to break, but it stutters. "I know," she tells him, and makes him leave.


End file.
